The Kostur dialect is a member of the South-Western subgroup of the Southern group of dialects

Dialects of the Macedonian language

The dialects of Macedonian comprise the Slavic dialects spoken in the Republic of Macedonia as well as some varieties spoken in the wider geographic region of Macedonia. They exist as part of the dialect continuum of South Slavic languages that joins the Macedonian language with Bulgarian to the...

 of the Macedonian language

Macedonian language

Macedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by approximately 2–3 million people principally in the region of Macedonia but also in the Macedonian diaspora...

. This dialect is mainly spoken in and around the town of Kastoria

Kastoria

Kastoria is a city in northern Greece in the periphery of West Macedonia. It is the capital of Kastoria peripheral unit. It is situated on a promontory on the western shore of Lake Orestiada, in a valley surrounded by limestone mountains...

, known locally in Macedonian as Kostur, and in the surrounding Korešta region which encompasses most of the area to the North of the town. The dialect is also partially spoken in Albania, most notably in Bilisht

Bilisht

Bilisht is a city of about 12,000 people. It is the local capital of Devoll District, south-eastern Albania. The city is 9 km from the border with Greece at Kapshticë. The closest Greek town across the border is Krystallopigi in the Florina Prefecture. Bilisht is at about 800–850 meters above...

 and the village of Vërnik.

The Kostur dialect shares strong similarities with the Nestram-Kostenar dialect

Nestram-Kostenar dialect

The Nestram-Kostenar dialect is a Macedonian Slavic dialect spoken in parts of northwestern Greece, in the area around the village of Nestorio and the area known as Kostenarija, which encompasses most of the Nestorio municipality as well as in the Akrites region...

 and the Korča dialect. Linguist Stoyko Stoykov

Stoyko Stoykov

Stoyko Ivanov Stoykov was a Bulgarian linguist.- Biography :Graduated Slavic Philology at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", . Specialized phonetics, dialectology and Slavic linguistics in Prague, Czech Republic . Was granted Ph.D. by the Univerzita Karlova...

 regards the Nestram dialect as a subgroup of the Kostur dialect.

Usage

The dialect is commonly viewed as one of the most dialect continuum

Dialect continuum

A dialect continuum, or dialect area, was defined by Leonard Bloomfield as a range of dialects spoken across some geographical area that differ only slightly between neighboring areas, but as one travels in any direction, these differences accumulate such that speakers from opposite ends of the...

 forms of Macedonian. Today it serves a mainly oral purpose for some native speakers, however in the past the dialect was frequently used in its written form. As late as the Greek Civil War

Greek Civil War

The Greek Civil War was fought from 1946 to 1949 between the Greek governmental army, backed by the United Kingdom and United States, and the Democratic Army of Greece , the military branch of the Greek Communist Party , backed by Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania...

 the dialect was being used in newspapers and other print. The Nova Makedonka  newspaper published in the period 1948-1949, was published both in the Kostur dialect and in Greek. The Edinstvo newspaper published from 1947-1949 also solely made use of the Kostur dialect.

Literature

• Стойко Стойков за Костурския говор (Българска диалектология, С. 2002, с. 181-182).
• Видоески, Божидар - Фонолошки опис на говорот на село Тиолишча (Костурско). Прилози МАНУ, 4, 1979, №2, 5-16.